Changes without Vince - Hopes/Suggestions/Predictions

[PEN15v2]

With Vince out of the picture, WWE is possibly about to "shake things up again." What sort of changes do you expect or hope for?


One thing about NXT (both eras) that I really wish would be implemented on main roster is the pace of the show. Raw and SD have the quick cuts, but it still feels like a slow show. I've been watching 1996 WWF, and despite the many flaws, the best part is the pacing compared to now. I said it when Roman changed his music, but as good as this theme is, it's WAY too long for TV. I get how it fits his character, but ever since the Undertaker and HHH started having drawn out entrances, too many entrances take much longer. Once in a while the show cuts to recaps during the long entrances, but the recaps are too drawn out as well. The WWE video production team is top notch, but not every beat to every story needs to be set to dramatic music and overly hyped announcer voiceovers.

The PPVs/PLEs should have the bigger entrances, while TV should have the shorter versions. If Roman is opening SD with a promo, do the Then.Now.Forver, and then right away start his theme and entrance. Announcers give a rundown and cut to a recap. Do it picture in picture or split screen if you need to. But we should never be watching Roman takes the full 2 minutes to walk out as we hear the exact same info every time.

The backstage interviewers in NXT are also much better. This isn't a knock on Kayla or Sarah, but they are essentially meat filled microphone stands: they aren't there to interact with the guest (unless it's Kayla and Heyman). They ask an opening question that sets up the scripted promo. You don't need to have Mean Gene levels of interaction, but have a little bit of back and forth.


Will we see Johnny Gargano sign with WWE again? Will there be a storyline of NXT Gold and Black vs WWE (I like the idea of it, but must be done delicately)? Will AEW lose some talents unexpectedly in hopes of siging with the HHH version of WWE Creative?

[The Cook]

The Roman Reigns long entrance thing seems to purely be done to fill time, if he starts off Smackdown you can just fast forward 5 minutes and he still wouldn't have started talking.

I do think there'll be people in AEW who never would've considered going to WWE that will be more open to it now that Vince is gone. Even a guy like MJF who seemed more than willing to go there will perhaps be even more likely now that Vince is gone as there may be less scripting of promos and a little bit more profanity allowed.

While the production was always a Vince call I don't think it'll change too much while Kevin Dunn is still in charge.

[Team Farrell]

I do expect some production changes. But I'm also not sure who's going to be "running the show". Triple H is in charge of creative, but is he going to be the guy on the headset in Gorilla?

Stephanie might be sold on some of the production stuff Vince likes.

I don't think that Vince's fingerprints will be fully off the show until he's dead. Cornette rightly pointed out that he's still on good terms with his daughter and son in law, so you have to figure that he's not going to stay silent when talking to them about what he likes or doesn't like about the product.

I do wonder if he's ever taken the time to watch an episode of Raw, though. Not in Gorilla on a headset, not from his office in Stamford with a direct link to the production truck, but having the same experience as a fan at home. If he's sitting in Stamford tonight watching the show on his television in his condo, and it's produced exactly the same way he has for several years, what will he actually think about it. Sometimes when you're so in a bubble, all it takes is stepping outside of it for all of the problems within to become very apparent.

I don't anticipate major changes immediately. It'll be slow, and it'll be a process. You might see a new focus on a few members of the roster that Triple H favours, for example. You might see some guys that he knows can talk given a little more freedom in a promo. But I don't expect that tonight will be a sharp, whiplash, left turn from last week's Raw.

EDIT: I just realized that they're in MSG tonight. I know why Vince is gone, and it's hard to have sympathy for him because of it, but man isn't it a little heartbreaking that the very first episode of this concept he started 30 years ago, after he retires, is from MSG? No Vince in MSG somehow feels wrong. I guess tonight can function as a real new beginning for WWE, back where it all started with Jess in the 20s.

[Powder]

I would think that any and all real changes will be started next Monday, since SummerSlam is Saturday, and that will end most of the current storylines.

So a week from tonight is the best day to start with the changes.

[Team Farrell]

But what changes would they start with next week? A sudden major push of a guy or obvious demotion of another guy is just the kind of whiplash that makes you product jarring and makes people tune out.

I'm not sure we're going to get some sudden shift at all. Hopefully there will be small, noticeable changes that add up over months.

[T.O.]

I want one thing. You know it. I know it.

Rock.

Cena.

Tres.

[Powder]

But what changes would they start with next week? A sudden major push of a guy or obvious demotion of another guy is just the kind of whiplash that makes you product jarring and makes people tune out.

I'm not sure we're going to get some sudden shift at all. Hopefully there will be small, noticeable changes that add up over months.

Sorry for not being clearer.

I meant that the WWE has advertised a TV-14 rating coming soon (sooner than later prob now), and now that HHH is in charge, things can and will change. As stated prior, promos might get a more leeway, angles could be less silly and more mature or edgier, and yes some different people may be pushed over established veterans, or people that have not gotten a major one before.

Things like:

• The 24/7 title may just disappear. I personally have always hated that nonsense.
• Tag Team wrestling may get a well deserved push, and teams like The Alpha Academy may be pushed as a more serious threat, and less of a joke, The Hurt Busines (Shelton and Cedric) could be re-paired up. Have people pull double duty as they have in the past i.e. Imperiium of Gunther (IC Champ) and Keiser. Also some new teams could be called up from NXT and/or new teams could be brought in to round out the tag division.
• The Street Profits could have a drawn out breaking up culminating at WM where Montez comes out looking like a million bucks and then take 2023 building him up to the Title, like the WWE did with the HHH/Bats feud. Not shock and awe like the Rockers.
• The entire Ezekiel nonsense can go away as well
• Nikki ASH could revert back to her SANITY type of gimmick, or at least a real persona, and not a fictional Superhero
• Doudrop could ger her original name of Piper Niven back and then be given a true Monster Heel gimmick like Nia Jax was, but she is more in-ring talented.

Some ideas of mine. They may not be for everyone, and you might now like them, but with much better people than me writing the stories, could make some of these suggestions come true.


And this is obviously just for RAW.

[Oliver]

I strongly doubt we'll be seeing major changes to the look and feel of either Raw or Smackdown for a good few months, maybe even longer. Thinking a bit from a kind of 'new boss coming in to a company' position, you take stock, look at what is currently going on, and then work out what is and isn't working over a period of time. HHH might have his ideas for bringing in to creative and who should/shouldn't be getting a bit of a push, but realistically these are minor changes to things overall.

Gut feel says that a lot of things are probably in place going through to Mania, especially big plans. Frankly, with Reigns in the position that he is and whoever takes the belt off him surely not going to be a short-term answer either, they have to be making some solid long-term for plans through to then. Mania might well be a 'season ender' for the Vince era itself, and then next summer be more of a sign of where things might be going under Stephanie and Nick Khan, and with HHH leading creative and finally having had his bedding in time.

[PEN15v2]

In terms of creative, I think it'll be subtle changes for the next few chapters of stories. I highly doubt it's worth scrapping a bunch of long term Vince based plans setup until WrestleMania.

I see online memes/jokes about Ciampa vs Gargano headlining a future WrestleMania, and other vanilla midget references. I truly think HHH booked NXT to counter main roster, therefore giving variety over the course of the 7 hourts of weekly TV. But heading up main roster, with the assets of all the talent involved, Lashley is not going to be putting Ciampa over. If anyone is going to get a boost now, it'll likely be people like Dijak/T-Bar = NXT in ring talent with WWE main roster look. We might see people like Karrion Kross return. Bigger guys that NXT gave a chance to but couldn't find footing on Raw/SD.

I think we'll see more of the talents like Gargao/Ciampa/Roderick Strong get chances, but probably in tag teams or midcard roles.

The opening of Raw felt very HHH/NXT-esque. I read reports it was designed to have the fans not boo Logan Paul, so that might not be a HHH idea. I'm sure when Vince was part of Logan Paul creative over the last couple of weeks, they had to keep in mind how quickly the fans would revolt against him, so this sort of idea was in place beforte MSG. But, it is still a NXT based concept (or Attitude Era).


I think the main thing AEW has over WWE is excitement. I feel WWE is better overall for story and wrestling, but when I did watch AEW, they were better at not having such a formulaic show. There were formulas, but they're fresher. You never know what would start the show, what would be next after a particular segment...etc. WWE suffers from a major formula issue. That common trope of opening Raw promo for 10-15 minutes isn't incorrect at all. The authority figure making a brawl a tag team match is another. Stuff like that needs refocusiing. Opening with the brawl might have been calculated to protect Logan Paul reactions, but it also felt majorly different.

[Oliver]

I think Kevin Owens might be the really big immediate beneficiary from some HHH creative. He's, reportedly, always been very high on HHH's list and has been really trusted with some high profile, but non-title, positions over the past 2-3 years. He's not really lost a lot of his stock or anything since his run with the Universal title and is an easy person to get back into that title picture.

I'm not sure if the current plan is for McIntyre to get a homecoming title win from Reigns or not when they do the big Cardiff show - it would seem like that was the script early doors - but I could certainly see Owens as a challenger for either of those two through the end of this year and into the Rumble.

[PEN15v2]

It's hard for any of us (except maybe COACH) to know where to draw the line between reaching for a wider younger audience, and keeping fans passionate. For example, Dean Ambrose/Jon Moxley as a babyface champion at the beginning of the recent brand split was obviously a very PG version of himself. Sure, there were fans, but it never felt like it reached the level it could have to get the fanbase behind him. This isn't about being the next Stone Cold, I just mean whatever he could have been, you felt he was not reaching the full potential.

And I think it's safe to assume this was a Vince decision. By making him love silliness like Mitch the plant or using James Elsworth to beat AJ Styles and other uncultred tropes, Ambrose connected with kids and younger teens, but there was a gap that adult fans couldn't get behind him as much as we now know can be achieved. Now, I don't know if the Mox character as babyface champion could work in WWE to the same level of success. I don't know if Vince was right to hold Ambrose back a bit, or if Mox in WWE with less restrictions would do good business. It's entirely possible that Mox would be red hot with the hardcore audience of the WWE, but drop in profits because kids don't connect with him as much as they do with WWE faces. We can all assume or guess, but we realyl don't know the bottom line.

All that being said, I hope HHH is able to find a way to get heat into the show again. I enjoy WWE, and the PPVs are rarely below 7 out of 10 in quality. But I think we can all agree that there's not a lot of life to the promotion. It's good, has good stuff going on, but there's not a lot of passion for anything. Is there a way to get that back, without sacrificing the wider audience?

[Powder]

I think Moxley could work in the WWE moving forward as the product is going TV-14. Which targets a different demographic than PG. PG is the fmily entertainment, where it is safe for the kiddies. TV-14 aims at an older audience, so Moxley could work.

Not saying he would, but he could much more easily with the new rating.

[PEN15v2]

The product is not going TV-14. You don't understand. Raw is looking to be rated TV-14, but Smackdown is staying as it. And Just because something is rated TV-14 doesn't mean every limit is going to be pushed. It's still going to be PG directed. I would assume all this TV14 thing is about is to have leeway once in a while. The product isn't going to suddenly be Attitude Era overnight.

[Team Farrell]

I've been giving this some thought since WWE announced the gimmick match for Deadline. It's a little convoluted, and with a few tweaks could be really effective and exciting. Lance Storm pointed out some of the issues with it on Twitter.

I think WWE needs a minor creative shake-up. Nothing huge, but they need to scatter a few non-Triple H guys throughout the creative process to disagree with some things and get them fine tuned.

I think Raw, Smackdown and NXT should have their own booking committees. Here's my perfect world:

Raw: Triple H, PS Hayes, Beth Phoenix, Road Dogg, Lance Storm
SmackDown: Triple H, PS Hayes, Molly Holly, Sean Waltman, Gabe Sapolsky or Paul Heyman
NXT: Shawn Michaels, PS Hayes, Sara Del Rey, Jim Smallman, Finlay

Each team has Triple H and PS Hayes, at least one "Triple H guy", one woman to make sure they're taken care of, and at least one guy who's going to disagree with Triple H and/or his guys. Triple H wouldn't be on the NXT team, he's got too much other shit to worry about, and Hayes's job would be to make sure there's nothing happening on one show that fucks up another, and ensure what's happening on NXT is something they'd want to use on the main roster. NXT's team also specifically acts as a training ground for the next generation of potential bookers, too.

The only people I listed that aren't currently employed by WWE are X-Pac and Lance.

The writers would be overseen by Bruce Prichard because he's got the experience working with them already.

The booking committees would handle overall direction, big picture stuff, where they're headed, and what needs to happen week-to-week to realize that vision. The writers are in charge of executing that vision, scripting what needs to be, providing bullet points for what doesn't, planning what backstage segments and vignettes are going to be on the show, etc.

I think that a system like that would do a lot for WWE. It would make sure the booking team has dissenting voices on it and ensure that there is a woman in the room to make sure the women are looked out for, as well as developing the next gen of bookers in the company.